FIRST minister Carwyn Jones yesterday angrily rejected suggestions of a lack of action in the wake of the 2005 E.coli outbreak.

He faced AMs’ questions about the response to the Pennington Inquiry into the outbreak that killed a five-year-old boy.

In a heated exchange with Tory AM Andrew RT Davies, Mr Jones said he did not want parents to suffer the agony of a repeat of the crisis.

Mason Jones died when E.coli O157 struck 44 schools in the South Wales Valleys.

But Mr Davies said: “I hear what you say but I think people outside this chamber will read the record and will form the opinion that I have formed.”

Mr Jones hit back: “If you want to be a barrister, train as one. I object strongly to that, chair, I must say.

“A direct allegation was made which was to my mind a political allegation, suggesting that somehow nothing had been done with regard to the taking forward of the Pennington recommendations. I reject that out of hand.”

He said he wanted to be reassured about the role of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and that the Chief Medical Officer was overseeing work prompted by Prof Pennington’s report.

“There are a number of us in this room who have children ourselves and certainly share the agony that parents would have gone through over the E.coli inquiry,” Mr Jones added.